Jaylon Smith playing out of position

[CowboyRoy]

If you mean playing the position of linebacker then I'll have to say yes, he is playing out of position. You just can't be a linebacker in the NFL without being physical and Jaylon has no physicality to his game. He avoids contacts and will not stack and shed. I once saw him blocked twice by the same guy, once 3 yards pass the line of scrimmage the second time about 10 yards down the field. It's as if the guy was on skates.

hes too much of a pretty boy. Always wearing sunglasses for interviews indoors, trying to look cool. Too worried about his looks to get dirty.

You nailed it. The guy has no physicality to his game. The good linebackers fill the gaps and shoot the gaps and shed blocks. He basically stands there, waits for the play to come to him and then gets moved out.

 

[bodi]

ALWAYS - because he can't play LBER

 

[9darter]

He's stealing money on pretty much every play out there.

Avoids contact over and over again.

 

[Creeper]

There were some yellow flags on LVE coming out of college. He only had one good year at Boise State. And he was from Boise State. I wonder if the Cowboys were looking to select Derwin James in that draft and when he went off the board they didn't really have a backup? I suppose they could have taken Ridley. They could have taken Darius Leonard too. Maybe they tried to trade down and failed?

The state of the LBs right now is really horrible. If we have to rely on Joe Thomas as our best run stopper we are in trouble. Looks like LB is a priority in next year's draft - along with OT, and S.

 

[xwalker]

We played soft. No aggression. No fight. On our heels for most of the game— 3 steps too slow in reacting.

In short— we sucked and won’t win many games unless this D grows a spine and a desire to punch the other team in the teeth.

That said— as bad as our D looked— our offense (other than Zeke)— looked timid and underwhelming. Hopefully the whole team looks in the mirror and grows some professional pride and comes out swinging tomorrow

In the 2018 season playoff game and against zone running teams in 2019 offenses took advantage of the Cowboys LBs being too aggressive.

They were improving in 2019 once they toned back the aggressiveness.

 

[fivetwos]

I’ve been saying these things about Jaylon since 2018.

In 2017, I chalked it up to game rust from being away from the game and coming off a serious injury.

In 2018, I started seeing some red flags but allowed myself to think he was trending the right way because he would make some splash plays.

In 2019, it was fully evident he lacked basic line backing instincts and fundamental technique. He was shown to be a major liability on the field.

What in the world did this guy do at ND that he forgot how to do?

If it was a loss of speed thing I could understand.

If he didn't get hurt someone would have burned a top 10 pick on this guy easily.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

What in the world did this guy do at ND that he forgot how to do?

If it was a loss of speed thing I could understand.

If he didn't get hurt someone would have burned a top 10 pick on this guy easily.

I don’t know.

Granted, I didn’t watch Notre Dame football with the same level of interest I do the Cowboys, so I wasn’t keying in on him snap-after-snap every game, so I didn’t see some of his glaring shortcomings we see now at the pro level.

 

[jblaze2004]

There were some yellow flags on LVE coming out of college. He only had one good year at Boise State. And he was from Boise State. I wonder if the Cowboys were looking to select Derwin James in that draft and when he went off the board they didn't really have a backup? I suppose they could have taken Ridley. They could have taken Darius Leonard too. Maybe they tried to trade down and failed?

The state of the LBs right now is really horrible. If we have to rely on Joe Thomas as our best run stopper we are in trouble. Looks like LB is a priority in next year's draft - along with OT, and S.

I wish we would have selected Darius Leonard. He has been pretty good for the colts. We need to stop drafting guys with huge medical flags. Especially before round 4.

 

[Chuck 54]

We have a WLB in LVE who was very good there as he reads, chases, covers, makes plays.
We have a very avg, sometimes below avg LB in Jalen who doesn’t do any one thing very well and flashes now and then.
Neither is suited to MLB, and switching them is a disservice to LVE who can be special at WLB. Sean Lee is brittle, but he’s the best MLB of the bunch. If we want to play some 3-4, we need to find a heavy thumper at ILB next year.

 

[Creeper]

We have a WLB in LVE who was very good there as he reads, chases, covers, makes plays.
We have a very avg, sometimes below avg LB in Jalen who doesn’t do any one thing very well and flashes now and then.
Neither is suited to MLB, and switching them is a disservice to LVE who can be special at WLB. Sean Lee is brittle, but he’s the best MLB of the bunch. If we want to play some 3-4, we need to find a heavy thumper at ILB next year.

This is really the issue. If we had "that guy" in the middle, the LBs would probably be more than adequate. I was hoping LBE would be the guy but he is turning out to be too brittle. And to compound the problem we are not great at DT and safety. We are not going to solve these problems in 2020 either. This is something to deal with in 2021.

 

[Oz-of-Cowboy-Country]

Jaylon Smith does not want to take on offensive linemen.

On run plays, he follows the flow instead of making the read.

In coverage, he needs to start taking away "two way go's" from the RB's. Meaning, he needs to a stick off to the side of the RB a little, instead of trying to get in front of him.

 

[dwreck27]

We need new LBs after this season

 

[jblaze2004]

We have a WLB in LVE who was very good there as he reads, chases, covers, makes plays.
We have a very avg, sometimes below avg LB in Jalen who doesn’t do any one thing very well and flashes now and then.
Neither is suited to MLB, and switching them is a disservice to LVE who can be special at WLB. Sean Lee is brittle, but he’s the best MLB of the bunch. If we want to play some 3-4, we need to find a heavy thumper at ILB next year.

LVE looked worst than Jaylon vs the rams and LVE is also made of glass.

 

[Lutonio]

Talk about a clear eyed view.

 

[buybuydandavis]

If you mean playing the position of linebacker then I'll have to say yes, he is playing out of position. You just can't be a linebacker in the NFL without being physical and Jaylon has no physicality to his game. He avoids contacts and will not stack and shed. I once saw him blocked twice by the same guy, once 3 yards pass the line of scrimmage the second time about 10 yards down the field. It's as if the guy was on skates.

The only positive on Jaylon seemed to be pass rush as an OLB. Sounds more like a not so good DE.

Jaylon supposedly has gotten bigger, but the much smaller Joe Thomas takes on blocks better.

LB has been the big disappointement on defense. High expectations, low performance. Joe Thomas plays well, but he's small and old to expect to hold up too long.

 

[BobbyFlame469]

People were acting like we got the next Ray Lewis when we drafted him LOL

 

[BBGTYCOON]

They both are paper linebackers. Meaning, they look good on paper, but cannot seem to position themselves correctly, during game time. This team needs some testosterone.

 

[NorthoftheRedRiver]

I'm guessing that this problem isn't unknown to the other teams. Might not be a bad strategy for them to just run right up the middle.

 

[Redball Express]

I think you mean he's playing the wrong sport. He needs to play something that he doesn't need quick recognition or reaction skills, has no contact, and requires no heart or toughness. They have professional cornhole now. Maybe he should check into that.

I think the sport you are suggesting he take up is an old fav of mine..

Women's Professional Australian Rules Nude Beach Volleyball.

Nobody cares what happens about the score and the only replays are when one of the players has to brush sand off their teammates. Then that part is done in slow motion replay for the viewers at home.

Ahhhh..what a game.

 

[starfan1]

Ya at this point his rightful spot should be next to McCarthy but since we have no depth he plays